WAR ON EXTREMISM?….Susan Glasser reports that the Bush administration is rethinking its approach to the war on terrorism:
The review marks the first ambitious effort since the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks to take stock of what the administration has called the “global war on terrorism” ? or GWOT ? but is now considering changing to recognize the evolution of its fight. “What we really want now is a strategic approach to defeat violent extremism,” said a senior administration official who described the review on the condition of anonymity because it is not finished. “GWOT is catchy, but there may be a better way to describe it, and those are things that ought to be incumbent on us to look at.”
Unfortunately, I suspect that this change in focus is about as authentic as George Bush’s alleged dedication to democracy promotion, but we can hope, can’t we? For my money, this is the right approach, and if the Bushies really do take it seriously it would be a welcome change. We’ll see.
